The present invention relates to an electrical connection device usable particularly in automotive vehicles to ensure the connection of onboard electrical apparatus, of fuse boxes and relay boxes, for example.
The invention relates more particularly to an electrical connection device of the type comprising a female connector and a male connector, in which:
a) the female connector comprises an insulating base, which has a recess adapted to receive and to guide the male connector, a male contact tongue disposed in said recess to ensure electrical connection with the male connector,
b) the male connector comprises an insulating casing, in which is disposed a female contact adapted to coact with said male contact tongue to ensure said electrical connection,
c) the female contact comprises a base portion substantially in the form of a channel, with sidewalls which carry, in a first end region of the base portion, at least one pair of flexible contact blades adapted to grip said male contact tongue and defining a contact region, and a second end region of said base portion, at least one pair of wings adapted to be crimped on an electrical current supply conductor, the base portion of the female contact comprising a transition region between said first and second end regions.
In known electrical connection devices of the type defined above (see for example French patent 2 778 275 of the applicant), the female contact usually comprises several pairs of flexible contact blades, the two contact blades of each pair having a spacing less than the thickness of the male contact tongue of the female conductor so as to guarantee, in service, a high pressure and, accordingly, a good electrical contact between the contact blades of the female contact of the male connector and the male contact tongue of the female connector. The pairs of contact blades usually have different lengths to reduce the force of inserting the male tongue into the female contact.
However, when the wings carried by the sidewalls of the base portion of the female contact are crimped on an electrical current supply conductor, this crimping operation gives rise to a deformation of the sidewalls of said base portion, which deformation brings said sidewalls toward each other. This deformation affects the sidewalls principally in the second end region and in the transition region of the base portion, but it can also affect the sidewalls in the first end region of the base portion, where are located the flexible contact blades. As a result, there is a decrease of the spacing of the blades of at least one pair of contact blades, which decrease, in service, can render more difficult the insertion of the male tongue into the female contact.
On the other hand, in the mass production of known electrical connection devices of the type defined above, the insulating housing and the female contact of the male connectors are produced separately. The insulating housing comprises a cage of generally rectangular parallelepipedal shape, which is closed on four sides by two longitudinal walls and two transverse walls surrounding the contact zone defined by the pairs of contact blades. On a fifth side, the cage can be closed by a cover which is connected to the cage by a flexible hinge made by molding with the cage and the cover. During molding, two arches are formed on the cover and two stop notches are formed on the cage such that the arches can hook respectively on the stop notches, by snapping in, when the cover is swung on the cage to close its fifth side. Under these circumstances, the insulating housings and the female contacts, which are produced separately, must be brought to a mounting station in which each female contact must be manipulated individually to be placed in the corresponding insulating housing whose cover is in open position, then the cover of each housing must then be manipulated so as to be placed in the closed position.
Moreover, it appeared desirable, at least for certain applications, to provide an electrical connection device having a larger sealing against gas and humidity, in particular between the contact zone and the second end region of the base portion of the female contact.
The present invention thus principally has for its object to provide an electrical connection device in which the contact blades of the female contact are less sensitive to the deformation of the sidewalls of the base portion of said female contact, which is produced during the operation of crimping the wings of said base portion on an electrical current supply conductor.
Secondarily, the present invention has for its object to simplify the production of the male connector of the electrical connection device, whilst improving the sealing, in particular between the contact zone and the second end region of the base portion of the female contact.
To this end, the present invention has for its object an electrical connection device of the type defined above, characterized in that
d) in the transition region, the sidewalls of the base portion in the form of a channel of the female contact, carry two wings which are bent toward each other and which bear end to end against each other so as to form with said base portion a closed rigidifying ring.
Under these circumstances, during the operation of crimping the wings of the base portion on an electrical current supply conductor, the rigidifying ring opposes what the deformation of the sidewalls propagates from the second end region of the base portion beyond the transition region up to the first end region of the base portion where the flexible contact blades are located.
The electrical connection device according to the invention can moreover have one or several of the following characteristics:
e) said closed rigidifying ring has a circular shape;
f) in the male connector, the insulating casing is overmolded on the female contact; in this case, the production of the male connector of the electrical connection device can be considerably simplified as will be described in detail later;
g) the insulating casing comprises a cage of generally rectangular parallelepipedal shape, which is closed on four sides by two longitudinal walls and two transverse walls surrounding the contact zone defined by said at least one pair of contact blades, and on a fifth side by a wall which is of one piece with the longitudinal and transverse walls of the cage and in which the first end region of the transition region of the base portion of the female contact, including the rigidifying ring, are embedded so as to create a sealed separation between said contact zone and the second end region of said base portion of the female contact; in this case, there is obtained a cage which is hermetically closed on five sides (there is no more cover which is connected more or less well to the cage) and a sealed separation is created between the contact zone and the second end region of the base portion of the female contact;
h) around the cage is disposed a joint adapted to ensure sealing between the casing of the male connector and the base of the female connector after inserting said cage into the recess of the base of the female connector; this characteristic also contributes to improving the sealing of the electrical connection device;
i) during overmolding of the insulating casing on the female contact, there is formed a locking means adapted to ensure locking of the male connector on the female connector.
As an intermediate product, the invention also has for its object a male connector having the characteristics indicated in paragraphs b), c) and d) above.
The male connector can moreover have one or several of the characteristics indicated in paragraphs e) to i) above.
Also as an intermediate product, the invention also has for its object a female contact having the characteristics indicated in paragraphs c) and d) above.
The female contact can moreover have the characteristic indicated in paragraph e) above.